Time and Time Again
by Gary Merchant
Summary: The Doctor and Sarah have an issue with gender. Prologue to further adventures.
1. Prologue

PROLOGUE  
  
The wind blew the dust across the valley as all around the wildlife hid behind whatever shelter they could find. Behind a large blue box a man and a woman stood pressed against it shivering against the wind. The man was protected against the rushing wind, dressed in a long frock coat with an equally long, trailing scarf. But the choice of clothing had been more luck than judgement. His travelling companion shivered against the bitter cold, and shot an accusing glance at her friend.  
  
"If you poke me with that again, I'll just scream and you know how you can't stand that! Put your sonic screwdriver away," said the man. "Why is it every time you say you're going to take us somewhere nice for a well earned holiday, we end up somewhere like this?"  
  
"That sonic screwdriver has been my constant companion for longer than you have been alive," said the woman, "and I thought this would be a good place for sand castles."  
  
The Doctor thought it was strange speaking those words to his own body. The accidental body swap with Sarah had left them in a bit of a pickle. Sarah meanwhile was trying not to strangle herself with the Doctor's scarf. However, she felt that the worst thing was talking - how did he manage it with these teeth?  
  
The Doctor, meanwhile, was struggling to keep his - Sarah's - teeth from chattering. "Sarah, I never really appreciated just how impractical your clothes could be until now. I'm getting breezes in the most unlikely of places."  
  
"Never mind that, Doctor," Sarah warned. "I think we have company." They both turned to face the new arrivals - clad in furs against the weather, they seemed harmless enough, but the confusion on their faces suggested they had heard the Doctor and Sarah's conversation. They then looked at Sarah, and she realised they were waiting for some form of greeting - from the Doctor, which to all intents and purposes, was her.  
  
"Hello," she said, approaching the leader. "We seem to have taken a wrong turning in our travels. Can you tell us where we are?"  
  
There was a low growling noise, a splutter, more growling from one of the furry whatevers, then it coughed and a silver sphere popped out from it's body with a clang, as it fell on to the rocky terrain and rolled off into a bit of scrub wavering in the dust strewn wind.  
  
The Doctor and Sarah watched in amazement as the silver ball, running like quicksilver, split and multiplied. Now there were nearly twenty silver spheres lying on the ground and growing until each was nearly twelve inches wide. Then as the wind continued to blow the spheres rose up and began to hover about five feet of the ground and with a high pitched squeal they all burst into flames.  
  
"Goodness gracious, great balls of fire!" exclaimed the Doctor from Sarah's body.  
  
"Doctor," Sarah moaned, "this is hardly the time and place for jokes." Then she saw the leader of the fur clad people approach.  
  
"It's alright, Sarah," the Doctor assured her. "We're among friends."  
  
"But. . . "  
  
"That joke was actually a greeting," he explained. "And now I know where we are. This is the planet Atora, and these are its inhabitants, the Choorall."  
  
"You might have warned me," Sarah admonished him.  
  
"The Doctor is correct," announced the Choorall leader. "We are a peaceful people."  
  
Now it was the Doctor's turn to be amazed. "You recognise me?"  
  
"You are a Time Lord," came the simple reply. "We know of the process of regeneration, as should your male companion."  
  
"Ah." Sarah stifled a giggle as the Doctor realised the Choorall's mistake. "I think I need to explain a few things first."  
  
Just at that moment, a black triangular void, at first quite small, but enlarging at a tremendous rate, came scooping out of the storm cloud filled sky and enveloped the Doctor, Sarah and the TARDIS. Seconds later, the Choorall were staring at an empty space where the ship and its gender swapped occupants had been standing. 


	2. Deadly Alliances

DEADLY ALLIANCES  
  
The Doctor and Sarah found themselves swinging about in the time vortex. Like puppets suspended from strings they hovered around and both tried to cling on to the TARDIS as though it were a life raft in the middle of the Atlantic ocean. Suddenly a streak of temporal lightening flashed across the vortex, striking both travellers and their ship.  
  
The Doctor woke up and looked at his surroundings. He was in a field and when he looked beside himself he saw Sarah just waking up. What was surprising was to see that she was back in her own body. He could hear her mumbling, something about a Dino, whatever that was.  
  
The Doctor reached up to touch his own face and was reassured to find that everything was still in place. It was a relief to be himself again. It was then with some horror that the Doctor noticed the TARDIS. It was shattered and in fragments all around him. The Police Box doors lay embedded in the ground about twenty feet away and the console was upside down in the next field where an inquisitive cow was sniffing it.  
  
"Do you mind. That's my property." The cow looked up briefly, then continued to examine the shattered TARDIS. The Doctor smiled, in spite of their predicament. "There's nothing so English as a cow in a field," he mused.  
  
"Ow, my head." Sarah struggled to a sitting position. "What happened, Doctor?"  
  
He helped to stand. "We seem to have arrived back on Earth, Sarah. And back in our own bodies."  
  
"What!" She quickly looked herself over, then back at the Doctor. "Oh, that's a relief. I thought we'd be stuck like that forever." Then she saw the broken remains of the TARDIS. "Oh, no! It can't be."  
  
"I'm afraid so." And she could almost feel the despair in his voice. "I can't see any way out of this one."  
  
"My dear Doctor, you do seem to be in some trouble."  
  
They turned at the sound of that voice. Further up the hill stood a man dressed in a dark grey uniform, his pointed beard streaked with flecks of grey.  
  
"Oh yes, it is me," he assured the Doctor, "and believe it or not, I'm here to help you."  
  
The Doctor and Sarah exchanged glances. "Doctor, who is he?"  
  
"Our only hope, and someone I never thought to see again," replied the Doctor. "That, my dear Sarah, is the Master."  
  
"Thank you, my dear Doctor." Turning to Sarah, "It is a pleasure you meet you at last, Miss Smith. I had no idea what I had been missing."  
  
"Doctor, who is. no, what is he?  
  
"Oh Sarah, he is the most evil, devious and dangerous man that I keep bumping into. But at the same time, he is probably, on this occasion, the best person we could bump into."  
  
"Doctor, you say the nicest things, you'll make me blush!" said the Master with that smile and glint in his eyes that made the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end.  
  
"Do you not like jigsaw puzzles?" Laughing as he said this, that sinister chuckle that he does so well. "It's so rare that I get the opportunity of picking up the pieces."  
  
"Who sent you here to help us and how are you going to help me get the TARDIS back together?" asked the Doctor.  
  
"One question at a time, Doctor. I was sent here by a common friend and that is all you need to know, for now. With regard to how I am going to help you, that is an altogether more difficult question."  
  
The Master took centre stage as he described the difficulties that they would have to face in resurrecting the Doctor's TARDIS. Several key components would have to he retrieved. While many parts of the TARDIS were in the field, as the TARDIS had been in the vortex when it had blown apart, many elements had been spread across all of space and time. They would need to be found and brought back to this field.  
  
"But to do that we will need another fully functioning TARDIS to find and retrieve the pieces," said the Doctor.  
  
"Precisely, Doctor," noted the Master. "Now I have a question for you. What do you think is the most important thing to me?"  
  
"Your desire to be powerful and indestructible."  
  
"And what do we know about the nature of TARDISes?"  
  
The Doctor's face froze in sudden realisation as he answered. "That they are powerful and nearly indestructible."  
  
"Yes, Doctor. Despite the sorry example of your own ship, they are. So what does your centuries of acquired logic lead you to surmise?"  
  
The Doctor looked at the Master in awe, as what his nemesis had done became obvious to him.  
  
"Yes, Doctor. I have merged myself with my own TARDIS so that we have become one entity. Now Doctor, Miss Smith, please step inside and make yourself comfortable. We will soon have all the components of your ship together," said the Master with a swagger.  
  
Suddenly he opened his mouth and the gap between his lips became bigger and bigger until his mouth was open as wide as a doorway. The Doctor looked into the Master's mouth and saw a fully functioning console room inside. Apprehensively they stepped inside.  
  
The Master was waiting for them as they entered.  
  
"How. how can he be in here and," Sarah struggled to find the words, "well, out there?"  
  
"A simple holo-image," the Doctor explained. "Makes it easier for us to communicate."  
  
"Well observed, Doctor." The Master was sincere in his praise. "Well, shall we go?"  
  
"Just a moment," the Doctor interupted. "You could at least tell me why you're helping us. I mean, this isn't like you at all."  
  
"I take your point," the Master replied, "but the situation demands that our rivalry should take second place."  
  
"Go on," the Doctor prompted.  
  
"The dispersal of your TARDIS components has caused ripples in time and space. Left unchecked, their presence may cause time itself to unravel. Now, even I can appreciate the gravity of the situation, and I am willing to put aside our differences so that we can find the components, before the unthinkable happens."  
  
The Doctor was stunned. "I see."  
  
"Well, that's all very well," Sarah chipped in, "but how do we find these pieces?"  
  
The Master smiled, as he began to set the controls for dematerialization. "Each component of a TARDIS carries a time signature, unique to its owner."  
  
"Like a sort of radar?"  
  
"A simple, but effective analogy," the Master complimented Sarah. "No doubt the Doctor has told you of the symbiotic link a Time Lord has to his TARDIS?" She nodded. "Then all we have to do, Miss Smith, is locate those components which match the Doctor's psyche."  
  
"So, where's our first port of call?" asked the Doctor.  
  
The Master checked the co-ordinates. His jovial manner was replaced by a frown. "This can't be right."  
  
"What's wrong?"  
  
"Well, according to my instruments, we've landed on Telos - to the exact moment when your second incarnation arrived."  
  
Sarah caught the worried look between the two Time Lords. "Doctor, what does he mean?"  
  
"Sarah, if the Master is right," the Doctor explained, "the components may have localised their dispersal to land at certain points within my own time stream."  
  
"Well, that's all ri. " then she realised. "You told me once before about the First Law of Time."  
  
"Right again, Miss Smith." The Master was deadly serious. "If the Doctor interferes in his own timeline, the Web of Time could unravel, with disastrous consequences."  
  
"But if I don't recover the components from the TARDIS," added the Doctor, "I could still disrupt my future, and that of the entire universe."  
  
His head was bowed for a moment, taking in the enormity of the situation.  
  
"Open the doors," he decided. "Let's get on with it." 


	3. Telos

TELOS  
  
The doors opened onto the grey, unforgiving terrain of Telos, home of the Cybermen. Wherever they had materialised, it was swathed in a cold, enveloping mist. What light there was, gave it an eerie translucent glow, that came and went, as the mists swirled and changed direction around them. They had stepped out into this intimidating atmosphere. It seemed to cling to them, chilling them to their marrow. Those that had it, of course.  
  
Sarah stepped closer to the Doctor, feeling the need to his closeness. "There's something here. I can feel it, out there . . . somewhere . . . "  
  
"There's certainly something not quite right here," agreed the Doctor, in that way that only he could convey, giving re-assurance of his presence but at the same time warning you that he just might not be able to sort it out. The Master, or what was a representation of him, had been silent, but he too was aware of something.  
  
"It would appear there is something stalking us, wouldn't you say, Doctor?" he said, having closed his mouth that had previously been open as a doorway.  
  
The Doctor turned to look at the Master whose face was unexpectedly cheerful. "Good luck, Doctor."  
  
The was a wheezing groaning sound as the Master, just like the Doctor's old TARDIS, dematerialised in front of the Doctor and Sarah's faces. A few last words carried on the wind before he finally disappeared. "I'll be back when you have found the missing component that has landed on this planet."  
  
The Doctor and Sarah looked at each other as they realised that they were now stranded on this planet until such time as the Master decided to return and retrieve them.  
  
"What are we going to do now, Doctor?" asked Sarah.  
  
"Look for the missing component and wait 'till that bearded oaf returns to help us find the next one," answered the Doctor.  
  
The two travellers turned around and looked at what little of the landscape they could see through the mist. "How on earth are we going to find a TARDIS component here when we don't even know what or where it is?" Sarah moaned.  
  
The Doctor shrugged his shoulders and taking Sarah's hand led her off into the mists of Telos.  
  
*****  
  
As quietly as they could manage the two friends tentatively made their way across the cold deserts, lost and unsure what they were looking for or where they were going. They were both still aware of something following them from just beyond their perception. Then suddenly and without warning a familiar and horrifying noise echoed across the desert.  
  
"EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE ALL CYBER LIFE FORMS!"  
  
The Doctor and Sarah ran for cover, finding shelter behind a rocky outcrop. "Daleks? On Telos?" The Doctor was stunned. "This isn't how it was before, unless . . . "  
  
"Unless the Web of Time has begun to change already," Sarah completed the terrifying thought.  
  
"And creating an alternative reality."  
  
They watched as a group of Daleks glided past them. "Cause and effect, huh?" whispered Sarah. "Okay, Doctor. Where to?"  
  
The Doctor pointed upwards. "Onwards and upwards, Sarah."  
  
Sarah looked up and could clearly see a metal opening halfway up the cliff face. "Up there? You know I get vertigo."  
  
"Well, you can either climb up there, or stay down here with the Daleks."  
  
She sighed. "Oh, come on then."  
  
The Doctor smiled as she marched on ahead of him. The grin was immediately replaced with a frown as he looked up at their target. "The ice tombs of Telos. Not a welcoming prospect." He quickly followed Sarah up the rough, jagged path.  
  
Surprisingly, the journey relatively trouble-free, encountering no other Dalek patrols on their way. Soon they were standing outside the open double doors of the Cybermen's control area. Sarah noted the Doctor's troubled look. "I suppose we'd better go in," she suggested.  
  
"Yes, and be careful," he warned. "We must avoid contact with anyone here."  
  
"You got that right, buddy! Now turn around." They did so, hands raised. Facing them was an American the Doctor recognised as Captain Hopper. "Now, just what are you two jokers doing here?"  
  
***** Hopper had little time to waste on the two new arrivals and marched them through the big doors and the main hall of what the Doctor called the Cybermen's Tomb, locking them in a side room. "Not the most comfortable of places," Sarah remarked.  
  
"Well, the Cybermen would hardly be concerned with comfort," the Doctor reminded her. "Everything here has a function. No room for aesthetics."  
  
The Doctor and Sarah examined the room they now found themselves in. A huge silver box that looked like some form of sarcophagus stood in the centre of the room opposite a bank of controls. The Doctor remembered the room very well, it was where Victoria had been trapped. Slowly the Doctor examined every corner of the room, looking for something out of place that he did not remember.  
  
There was a commotion outside where the others were. Sarah could hear screams and the sound of the exterior doors slamming shut. "What's going on out there?" she asked.  
  
"I should imagine the Daleks are trying to pay the Cybermen a visit," replied the Doctor.  
  
"But all those people, they'll be killed."  
  
"Yes." The reply was curt, but the Doctor could only view the situation in terms of certainties, not probabilities.  
  
Sarah was at her wit's end. "Well, can't we do something?"  
  
"Listen, Sarah. This is only happening because of the ripples in time created by the destruction of the TARDIS. If I can find all the elements of my ship and reassemble it then all this will be undone and they will be safe again."  
  
"And if you can't?"  
  
"Then they and probably we will die here, probably right now."  
  
Sarah gulped and the Doctor returned to searching the room. Outside the sound of commotion increased and blaster fire could be heard. The grating chants of the Daleks also seemed to be getting louder.  
  
"Ah ha!" shouted the Doctor.  
  
"Ah ha what?" asked Sarah.  
  
"Look over there, you see that?"  
  
She looked to where the Doctor was pointing. Sitting on it's own was a Cyberman's head. Sarah began to puzzle what was so important about it. She looked back to the Doctor and he could read the bemusement on her face.  
  
"Sarah, remember what I said about everything here having a function? So why would Cybermen just leave an empty head lying around? It doesn't make sense, and I certainly don't remember it being here the last time I was in this room."  
  
The Doctor moved over and touched the head. Slowly it began to hum and then in a sudden puff of smoke it turned into a sophisticated looking piece of equipment. "There it is, the temporal wave amplifier from the TARDIS," he announced with a smile.  
  
Sarah tried to ignore the sound of fighting from outside as the screams and Dalek chants got ever closer. The Doctor looked at Sarah again and felt a little bit of explanation might distract her from the threat of imminent death.  
  
"Obviously the emergency chameleon field of the TARDIS is protecting all the individual components of the ship by disguising them in a form appropriate to the location where they have landed. When I touched it, it recognised my symbiotic print and reverted to its normal state."  
  
Sarah tried to look interested but she was becoming increasingly aware that this was possibly the final minute of her life. She could hear the Daleks outside chanting and firing at the entrance to the room.  
  
Suddenly the small room was filled by a wheezing groaning sound and the Master/TARDIS materialised in the corner. "Congratulations, Doctor. Now I suggest we move quickly to find the next item before you become a Dalek barbecue."  
  
"Where is the next element?" asked the Doctor.  
  
"On Vestigualamavundar. I was tracking it while I was in the vortex," replied the Master.  
  
"I don't know of it."  
  
"No, neither do I," the Master admitted. "Beyond its name, it is a planet entirely unknown to our race. Now hurry up and get inside."  
  
The Master opened his mouth and the Doctor and Sarah could see the safety of the console room inside him. With a sudden rush they hurled themselves inside. The Master closed his mouth and dematerialised just as the door to the room exploded and the Daleks rushed in to find the room empty.  
  
"THERE WERE PEOPLE HERE!" intoned one. "WHERE ARE THEY? FIND THEM. THEY MUST BE EXTER." A sound like the rushing of a great wind swept through the room, and the rest of the ice tombs. The Daleks were still, their movements frozen within a moment of time, as their shapes became translucent, intangible. In a matter of seconds, the Dalek task force was wiped from the surface of Telos as though they had never existed.  
  
Which they never had. Time was set back on its correct path.  
  
*****  
  
"Well, that's one piece recovered." Sarah breathed a sigh of relief. "How many more are left?"  
  
The Doctor looked up from his examination of the temporal wave amplifier. "There are three more to find, Sarah. The time vector generator is missing, and the spatial anomoliser."  
  
"That's two. What about the third?" The Doctor fell silent. "Come on, Doctor. Don't hold out on me."  
  
It was left to the Master to explain. "The final component, Miss Smith, is the most important."  
  
"Isn't it always?" she remarked. "Okay, so tell me."  
  
"It is what the Doctor would refer to as the heart of the TARDIS. Put simply, it is the power source which guides the TARDIS through the vortex. Without it, the Doctor would be stranded."  
  
"I thought the dematerialisation circuit would do the same thing."  
  
"True," the Master acknowledged, "however, a circuit can be replaced. But a power source . . . ? Well, I'll leave it to your imagination."  
  
The Doctor rounded on the Master. "You're enjoying this, aren't you?"  
  
"I assure you, I am not." The Master returned to the central console, as the sound of materialisation echoed around them. "Doctor, Miss Smith, it seems we have arrived. Vestigualamavundar awaits you."  
  
The TARDIS doors opened. Outside, the dark, foreboding surface of Vestigualamavundar stretched out before them. The Doctor stared in shock. "Oh, no."  
  
Sarah was at his side. "Doctor, what is it?"  
  
He continued to stare, as though hypnotised. "How could I have forgotten so easily?"  
  
"You know this place?" The Master was intrigued.  
  
"Yes." And now he looked down at Sarah. "Vestigualamavundar is its Gallifreyan name. Loosely translated, it means 'the blue planet.' Sarah, this is Metabelis III." 


	4. Secrets and Lies

SECRETS AND LIES  
  
Sarah stared in disbelief at the sight before her. "But it can't be Metabelis III," she protested. "I've been here before, remember?"  
  
"This is how it was on my first visit here, when I came looking for the blue crystal," he explained. "You saw it at a later time period, when things had calmed down."  
  
"And we're going out there?"  
  
"No, Sarah. This is something I must do alone."  
  
"But . . ."  
  
"Sarah!" The urgency in his voice stilled any further objections. "I'll be all right," he assured her. "Besides, I need you to stay here." The Doctor lowered his voice. "Keep an eye on the Master. See if you can learn anything."  
  
It made perfect sense, but it didn't make Sarah feel any better. "Just you be careful, okay?"  
  
He smiled. "You're a good girl, Sarah. Don't worry. I'll be back soon."  
  
Sarah watched him march outside, then she turned and looked at the holographic Master, who was prowling around the console looking smug. "What are you looking so happy about?" she asked.  
  
"Why, the Doctor's attempt to delude you."  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"The Doctor has tried to convince you that Vestigualamavundar is in fact Metabelis III. He has done this because he thinks it is a reasonable sounding lie that will persuade you that you do not need to see what is out there."  
  
"You mean, that isn't Metabelis III?"  
  
"Correct, Miss Smith. Vestigualamavundar is in fact, as I said earlier, a planet totally unknown to our Time Lord race. And there is a very good reason for that."  
  
"What is that then?" Sarah began.  
  
"Vestigualamavundar used to be the heart of a great and peaceful civilisation. They were a noble race of telepaths who treated each other great respect," the Master explained. "Their culture was full of the noblest achievements in art and science. They would have gone on to perhaps even eclipse the power and achievements of the Time Lords."  
  
"So, what happened to them?"  
  
"The Doctor committed genocide against them."  
  
"No, I don't believe you!" screamed Sarah.  
  
"I'm sorry, Sarah. It's true," said the Doctor as he re-entered the console room. He looked ashen faced. "I'd hoped to hide the truth from you with the lie about Metabelis, but I was looking around the surface for the next component and felt guilty for not telling you. Only to find that the Master had already started enlightening you."  
  
"Doctor, I can't believe it. What happened?" asked Sarah.  
  
"It was during our days at the Prydonian Academy," the Doctor began. "I had heard so much about the Vestigualamavundar civilisation that I borrowed a TARDIS and went on a joyride to visit the planet. Despite all the warnings, my curiosity got the better of me. Little did I know that the warnings to stay away were for a very good reason."  
  
Sarah looked at the Doctor who was looking down in sorrow. The Master continued the story.  
  
"The Vestigualamavundarans had a severe allergic reaction to Alien telepathic communication. When the Doctor arrived here he tried to communicate with the telepathic Vestigualamavundarans in our own form of telepathy. Their reaction was violent and immediate. Within 24 hours the entire race was extinct. Being the Doctor's best friend at the Academy, I conspired to wipe all records of the planet from the archives to protect him."  
  
The Doctor nodded in shame.  
  
"I even managed to wipe it from the Doctor's own memory, to calm his guilt."  
  
"Until we arrived back here and the memories returned," said the Doctor. He hardly dared look at Sarah. "Ghosts return to haunt everyone, even Time Lords."  
  
Sarah placed a comforting arm around him. "Doctor, perhaps it's for the best, coming here." He looked at her, an unreadable expression on his face. "We all have to face our demons sometimes. Maybe it's time you faced yours."  
  
"Yes, I suppose . . ." The Doctor roused himself. "Alright, Sarah. You win." He turned to the Master. "I suppose you're going to disappear again, while we search for the next component?"  
  
"I'm afraid so," he replied. "I have to report your progress to our associate."  
  
The Doctor's curiosity returned. "Yes, who is this mutual friend of ours?"  
  
The Master shook his head. "That I cannot tell you, as yet. But I promise I shall return." He watched the Doctor and Sarah exit the TARDIS. "Good hunting."  
  
They barely gave the Master a second glance as he dematerialised. They were too busy taking in the desolation - Sarah for the first time, the Doctor reliving forgotten, dark memories.  
  
Sarah broke the silence. "Okay, Doctor. Where do we start?"  
  
The Doctor paused, getting his bearings. "The main city was over that way," he replied, indicating to their right. "It's as good a place as any."  
  
They set off, picking their way through the blackened earth.  
  
The two friends were silent throughout the journey. Sarah knew instinctively to say nothing, though she could see how badly this was affecting the Doctor. Occasionally he would offer a brief smile to reassure her, but for the most part he withdrew into himself.  
  
Eventually they arrived in what remained of the Vestigualamavundarans' city. A few building had survived, but these were now just grim reminders of a once great civilisation. It was still hard for Sarah to take in - that the Doctor had unwittingly been responsible for their demise. Her eyes fell upon a building which appeared untouched by the ravages of time. "Doctor, what's this place?"  
  
"Hmm? Oh, that was the Tower of Knowledge. What you might refer to as a library back on Earth."  
  
"It's a bit big for a library. What did it contain?"  
  
"Well . . ." the Doctor thought for a moment. "Do you know, I have no idea." He was immediately intrigued. "I think we should go in and find out."  
  
The Doctor and Sarah made their way into the tower by way or a narrow spiral staircase. After what seemed like half an hour of relentless climbing, they reached a door. The Doctor calmly pressed his hand against it and pushed it open.  
  
The room on the other side of the door was massive. It reminded Sarah of the time the Doctor took her to the future to see the dome in Greenwich, but this was much bigger. Despite its size, the room looked like you would expect a library to look, with endless shelves reaching up for the ceiling and off in to a near invisible horizon. Sarah wondered for a moment how such a room could fit inside the tall but narrow tower they had climbed, but she remembered the TARDIS and suddenly it did not seem so strange.  
  
The two of them began to look more closely at the shelves. At first Sarah had not looked to closely assuming that she would see books but instead the shelves were full of bundles of smokey energy, flashing with shape and colour. The Doctor saw Sarah's expression of wonder.  
  
"The Vestigualamavundarans were telepathic so they did not need books, speech or traditional language," he explained. "If they needed to record an event, a thought or feeling, they were able to mentally concentrate it into a small package of pure energy, like these here. Then later when the individual who had conceived the thought was asleep, dead or otherwise unable to telepathically pass it on themselves, another could come here and absorb the contents."  
  
Sarah reached out and touched one of the swirling balls of energy. She drew her hand away less than twenty seconds later but her mind was swimming. New ideas and feeling were swimming in her mind. She could not understand half of them and the rest were already fast receding as she stepped back from the shelves.  
  
Sarah came to her senses and noticed that the Doctor was marching purposefully down the aisle they were in. She caught up with him as he reached the end. Before them was a giant circular row of shelves like the reading room of the British Library except that these shelves were hundreds of feet high.  
  
"These are the histories of the Vestigualamavundarans, every major event throughout their civilisation is recorded here," said the Doctor.  
  
Sarah looked at the shelves. They had obviously been prepared so as to be filled with generations of experiences. The shelves were crammed full of little bundles of swirling energy, the history books of the Vestigualamavundarans. Sarah was struck by a sudden realisation. The shelves were full to bursting until about halfway across, while the remaining half of the shelving space was empty.  
  
"The end was very unexpected for them. They were expecting to fill these shelves and then build more," said the Doctor.  
  
They moved closer to the final energy ball on these shelves. While all the other energy books had been swirling masses of light and glowing colour this final book was different. It swirled slowly as though it was old and tired but most of all it was black. It was a deep, dark impenetrable black swirl of opaque energy.  
  
"You should see it for yourself, Sarah. See my folly," said the Doctor as he pointed at the black energy book.  
  
Sarah stretched out her hand and let it pass into the black ball of energy. A vista of light seemed to envelope her. Then her vision cleared, and she saw.  
  
To be continued . . . 


	5. Know Thine Enemy

KNOW THINE ENEMY  
  
The city was whole. In the town square many buildings stretched up toward the clouds, and beyond. It was a clear bright day. Everything was peaceful, and for a telepathic species, quiet. From simple nods of their heads, the people of Vestigualamavundar could hold complete conversations in seconds. Sarah could hear the language in her own mind; not dissimilar to that of Earth, though some words were unintelligible.  
  
Then an alien sound began to permeate the stillness of the day, and with that sound came a tension so tangible that Sarah could feel it touch her. She recognised the time vessel as a TARDIS, appearing to her in her mind's eye as an ionic column. The stranger who stepped from it was dressed simply in tunic and breeches, his hair short and dark, the eyes keen and intelligent.  
  
A crowd began to gather around this new arrival. The Doctor, for Sarah knew it was he, smiled at the mass of people. He made as if to speak, then paused, remembering the etiquette on such occasions.  
  
"GREETINGS. I COME AS A FRIEND."  
  
The mental energy from those initial words was deafening, even to Sarah. Those nearest to the Time Lord fell to the ground, their mental defences crushed. Within seconds their bodies were lifeless.  
  
The Doctor was shocked. "WHAT'S HAPPENING?" His telepathic power cut through like a knife, killing everything in its path. Too late, the Doctor realised his mistake. But even his random thoughts, concern for those fallen, followed on like a virulent plague, destroying all who came into contact. "No, please! I didn't know!" All around him, the story was the same. And there was no respite, no save haven. A once proud civilisation was decimated in less than a minute. Only the Doctor was left, sitting dejectedly on the stone steps, head in his hands, crying for the dead.  
  
"Sarah! Sarah, come back!" With an effort, Sarah pulled her hand away from the book. The dizziness was stronger this time, and it took a few moments for her to recover. It was all she could do to keep the tremor from her voice as she spoke. "All those people . . ."  
  
"I know, Sarah. I know." The Doctor's voice was heavy with emotion. "You know now why the Master wiped all records of this place, and why I couldn't tell you the truth once I remembered.  
  
"I thought I knew it all - doesn't every child think they know all the answers at some stage in their life? And that's what I was, Sarah. A foolish, unthinking child. I was grateful for the Master's friendship then. He saved me from myself."  
  
"And how do you feel now?"  
  
"Now?" He thought long and hard. "Purged, I suppose. Like a huge weight has been lifted from me. It's like you said, Sarah - we all have to face our demons. We just don't like to admit our mistakes."  
  
"Just so long as we can learn from them, Doctor," Sarah observed.  
  
"Yes." The Doctor looked up at the roof of the Tower. "You know, it's amazing how this has stood intact all this time."  
  
"Like a monument," Sarah agreed.  
  
"Hmm. Or . . ." He paused, deep in thought. "A monument, or a beacon? I wonder . . ." He began to pace backwards and forwards up and down the aisle, until he stopped, a look of incredulity on his face. "Sarah, you are amazing!"  
  
"I am?"  
  
He nodded. "With a whole planet to search, you brought us to the only spot where the next missing component could possibly be!"  
  
The Doctor looked around himself waiting for inspiration to direct him. Sitting on a table amongst the shelves was a book. This was a normal paper and pages book and not of the local energy variety. Sarah looked where the Doctor's gaze had fallen and realised what he was thinking. What could be more natural than a book on a library. As they moved closer to the book they noticed it was a copy of Alice in Wonderland.  
  
"How like the old girl," the Doctor approved.  
  
They smiled at each other as the Doctor stretched out his hand and touched the book. Then, just like the cyber head on Telos, the book transformed itself into a complex looking component, which the Doctor recognised as the time vector generator. A moment later the familiar sound of the Master materialising could be heard.  
  
"Sarah, I think I know who is behind all this," said the Doctor. "The body swap, being pulled into the vortex and the Master being sent to help us."  
  
There wasn't much time. "Quick, tell me before the Master fully materialises," said Sarah.  
  
The Doctor opened his mouth to speak but was suddenly frozen before he could get out the words. Sarah looked to the Master but he too was frozen, half in this world and half in the vortex. It was as though everything around her was paused like an image on a video.  
  
"Well, my dear Sarah Jane. Looks like the old fella has finally twigged," said a familiar voice.  
  
She spun round to see where the voice had come from. She recognised the voice instantly, but she was unprepared for the sight behind her. There he was, totally recognisable but different. The same face, but scared and older. The same voice, but huskier. Similar clothing, but all in black. He grinned back at her, enjoying her discomfort. Those same big white teeth in the same smile, but the expression was much more malignant.  
  
"Let me introduce myself, Sarah, I am the Doctor - the real Doctor. The version of myself that would have existed had the Master not wiped my memory of the events on this planet.  
  
"While this feeble fool learned to love peace and knowledge free from the guilt of his actions here, I went on to learn to love the chaos and pain of the genocide I committed here. Finally, I am reclaiming my existence."  
  
Sarah shook her head defiantly. "No, you can't be the Doctor. I know him." She indicated his frozen form. "He's a good man."  
  
The Dark Doctor approached her, but she kept a safe distance. "My dear Sarah, that do-gooder is nothing but a pale imitation of me. You must believe me."  
  
Sarah's mind was turning cartwheels. Either this version of the Doctor was telling the truth, or he was just spinning a lie. Whatever the case, she needed answers. "Alright. How did you find us?"  
  
"Oh, the obligatory questions," he laughed. "Very well." He sat down upon the stone steps. "When I returned to Gallifrey, it was with the intent of learning all I could about our depraved culture. I discovered so much, particularly about their macabre forms of entertainment. Did you know that there was a place called the Death Zone? They used it as a kind of testing ground for other life forms, delivering them to the Zone by use of a Time Scoop. Later, they forbade use of it and turned their attention to other worlds, becoming the timid observers of today.  
  
"But they never thought to do away with the machinery itself. So I bided my time, and waited." He indicated the frozen Doctor. "It was childsplay for me to track you and he through the vortex. Then once I had access to the Time Scoop, it was just a matter of plucking you out of time and depositing you on Atora. Simple, really."  
  
Sarah took all this in. "So you were responsible for that body swap we went through?"  
  
"Ah, yes. That was an unfortunate mistake on my part. It's like anything you try - you don't always get it right first time."  
  
"Well, thanks very much. You make it sound like a laboratory experiment." Sarah was angry now.  
  
He smiled. "I suppose it was, in a way. But the end result was going to be the same. Once the Master had set the Doctor on his search for those TARDIS components, it was only a matter of time before you turned up here."  
  
"And I suppose the Master knew all about this?"  
  
"Oh, no," he replied. "That was the irony of it. He truly believed he was helping the Doctor, and was working as an agent for the High Council of the Time Lords. Such a simple deception. Now, enough questions."  
  
He rose from his sitting position, rising to his full height. "It's time for me to pick up where the good Doctor left off - with you at my side, Sarah."  
  
"What do you mean?" she asked.  
  
"This is an ideal time for me to step into this universe and take over from this fop," he replied. "His goody two shoes reputation will allow me access to the most sacred halls and private quarters of the most important people in all space and time. I will play with them, send their cultures in different directions, pollute their ideals with foreign ideas until I remake the universe in a form that amuses me."  
  
"While the universe continues to think you are trying to save everyone?"  
  
"Exactly, Sarah. At the moment my existence is fragile, but the more I shape the universe into one that suits my own time line then I become more real, and your Doctor will cease to have ever existed."  
  
"And then what?" asked Sarah. "When you are real and the universe is remade, what will you do then?"  
  
"Why, start to tear it apart of course," as if the answer was obvious.  
  
"Why?"  
  
"For the sheer unbridled fun of it. I got a taste for destruction on this very planet."  
  
There was a sudden gurgling noise behind Sarah and she turned towards it to see what it was. Horrified, she watched as the Doctor - her Doctor - began to strain against the time field holding him. The movement were slight, imperceptible at first. But as they gradually became more pronounced, the Doctor's dark persona stepped forward, a look of shock on his face. "No, it's impossible. This is against all known phenomena."  
  
The Doctor forced a smile. When he spoke the words came out through a wall of static. They were blurred, but recognisable. "Unknown phenomena has always been a speciality of mine." He called out. "Sarah!"  
  
She needed no second bidding and ran across to him. "I'm here, Doctor. What do I do?"  
  
"Take my hand."  
  
"No!" Sarah hesitated at the Dark Doctor's voice. "He is weak. Touch him and he dies."  
  
She glared at him defiantly. "No, he is strong, and a better man than you."  
  
"You'll die too," he insisted.  
  
"Then I'll take that chance. Because if I don't, how many more deaths will there be?" Resolute, she took the Doctor's hand in hers. As their hands touched, a swell of Artron energy coursed through both their bodies. Sarah held on tightly as the energy build up grew and forced its way outward, spiralling around them.  
  
"Hold on, Sarah. It's nearly over." The Doctor's voice was clearer this time, as the energy began to lose its strength. Gradually the spiral effect reduced in power, and the molecules surrounding them dissipated and faded away to nothing.  
  
All was still. The Doctor let out a breath. "Phew! That was a near thing." He smiled down at his companion. "Thank you, Sarah."  
  
She returned the smile. "Anytime, Doctor."  
  
"Nooo!!" The two friends were thrown to the floor as the Dark Doctor pushed past them, running down the aisle they had entered.  
  
"He'll be running for his TARDIS," the Doctor realised. "Sarah, get the time vector generator and attend to the Master."  
  
"Right." She paused. "Hang on, what about you?"  
  
"I'll be back, don't worry." He set off after his dark persona.  
  
Sarah quickly grabbed the component as, with the Dark Doctor's control now broken, the Master finally completed his materialisation. He staggered for a moment, and Sarah took his arm to steady him.  
  
For once he was grateful for someone's help, though he was glad that the Doctor wasn't around to notice. "Thank you, Miss Smith. What happened?"  
  
"I'll explain later," she promised. "Right now, the Doctor's in trouble. This way." She led him down the long corridor, up the spiral staircase, all the while following the Doctor toward the Tower's main doors. By the time they had caught him up, the Doctor was alone in the main courtyard, kicking his heels and fuming. Sarah knew she didn't have to ask.  
  
"He's gone, Sarah. I missed him by a nanosecond."  
  
"Oh, Doctor."  
  
"If it's not too much trouble," inquired the Master, "will someone please tell me exactly what is going on?"  
  
The Doctor sighed. "You could say our problems have just become a whole lot worse." 


	6. Choices

CHOICES  
  
Some minutes later the strange trio were sitting cross-legged facing each other, each having filled in the other two on what they knew. Sarah had told the Master and Doctor all about her encounter with the Dark Doctor and the Master had told them about how he thought the High Council had contacted him and asked him to help the Doctor. But now they were all faced with the same puzzle. Every location they visited to collect the missing parts of the TARDIS was in some way related intimately to the Doctor's past.  
  
This planet was the turning point. In one reality the Master wiped the Doctor's memory and he went on to become a hero, while in the alternative reality the Doctor had lived on with his guilt and to deal with it had allowed himself to begin to enjoy the pain and death he had caused rather than agonise over it.  
  
The version of Telos where the Daleks were raiding the cyber tombs was a version of how events would have turned out if the Doctor had never begun to meddle in the two races' time lines. It was his meddling that had kept the inevitable conflict between the two imperialist species at bay and without his early presence the archaeological team had no hope of survival.  
  
All around them the threads of the universe they knew were unravelling and a new reality was breaking through. Only this desolate planet where the change had begun would remain unchanged in it's own unalterable tragedy.  
  
They all knew that their only hope was to kill the Dark Doctor. The Master seemed rather cheerful about this, but understandably the Doctor himself was resigned but disturbed, knowing he would need to commit a strange form of suicide. The Master had offered to act alone but the Doctor had insisted that he had to do this himself. They were all about to stand and begin the search for the Dark Doctor when the peace of the courtyard was interrupted by a strange wheezing groaning sound and the sudden materialisation of a Police Box.  
  
The Doctor, the Master and Sarah all exchanged glances of puzzlement.  
  
The door of the police box opened and a man stepped out. He was wearing a dark brown jacket over a red waistcoat, with a paisley tie and a strange misshapen hat on his head. When he spoke he had a Scottish accent.  
  
"Let me introduce myself to myself. I am the Doctor, number seven in fact." he announced.  
  
"What are you doing here?" asked the Doctor. "The First Law . . ."  
  
"To offer you a choice," said another Scottish voice almost identical to the other Doctor.  
  
Out from the TARDIS stepped a twin of the seventh Doctor. He was almost identical except he was dressed in a light cream coat and a pullover with question marks all over it. The two little Scottish Doctors stood next to each other, looking very much like a pair of twins trying very hard to look different from each other.  
  
"What sort of choice?" asked the Doctor.  
  
"Look at the two of us," said the dark jacketed Doctor.  
  
"We are the same, but different," said the first.  
  
"Neither of us is really here," explained the second. "The First Law of Time doesn't apply to us. We are just reflections of what you may become."  
  
"I am the reflection of what you will become if you succeed in killing the Dark Doctor and return to your natural time stream where your memories of this planet are erased again," said the light jacketed Doctor.  
  
"Whereas I am the reflection of what you will become if you chose not to kill the Dark Doctor, but to merge with him instead," said his dark jacketed version. "To absorb him, his memories and his penchant for manipulation."  
  
"If you choose me you will again be carefree and able to travel on finding your battles wherever they arise," continued the first one.  
  
"If you choose me you will carry a world of woes, but be able to choose where and when to fight and cut off the roots of evil before they grow too strong," said the second.  
  
"Doctor, the choice is yours," announced the dark and light jacketed Doctors together.  
  
"A dilemma indeed, Doctor," the Master noted. "I do not envy your choice."  
  
"Doctor, what are you going to do?" asked Sarah.  
  
The Doctor was deep in thought, weighing up the options. Sarah could almost feel the tension. "Very well," he said to the two other Doctors. "I have made my decision, but I want something in return."  
  
"Ah. You want to know the location of the spatial anomoliser," the light jacketed Doctor surmised.  
  
"Yes," the Doctor replied. "Once I have that, I can set things in motion."  
  
"To what end?" asked his dark jacketed seventh persona.  
  
"So that I may merge with my dark side."  
  
Sarah was shocked. "Doctor, no!"  
  
"Sarah, I must." He regarded Sarah's concerned face. "I'm responsible for all of this, either directly or indirectly. If I can make some kind of amends for my past actions, or if there is the slightest chance that I can turn this dark version of me into a positive force, then I have to try."  
  
She fell silent at his words, knowing he was right. Even the Master nodded his assent.  
  
The Doctor turned to his future selves. "Now to your side of the bargain. Where is the spatial anomoliser located?"  
  
The two Doctors exchanged glances, and nodded. "It's on Earth," replied the first one.  
  
"More specifically," continued the second one, "during the time of your - our - exile."  
  
"Well, come on, you two!" The Doctor was exasperated. "I haven't got all day!"  
  
They sighed as one. "You must be particularly careful," cautioned the first.  
  
"Because," the second added, "its time trace places the spatial anomoliser's location at the first invasion of the Nestene Consciousness."  
  
"Oh no," the Doctor realised. "Autons."  
  
*****  
  
The Doctor and Sarah stepped out of the Master's mouth on the exact co- ordinates of UNIT HQ. The Master closed his mouth and looked around the area where he had landed.  
  
"What's happened here?" asked Sarah.  
  
They were standing amidst the ruins of London. Shattered buildings and broken bodies surrounded them.  
  
"The Dark Doctor's universe is starting to become the real one," the Master explained. "This is London as it would be if the Doctor had never become involved in the affairs of Earth."  
  
"He's right, Sarah," the Doctor told her. "In this reality wave after wave of alien invasion has ravaged the Earth and its population. First the Yeti then the Cybermen and now the Autons. Invasion force after invasion force, following one another and fighting each other over this damaged little planet."  
  
Sarah studied her surroundings and the bodies strewn across the landscape. Looking more carefully than the first time she registered something. Yes there were human bodies, but there were also others. Lizards with three eyes crushed under the bodies of giant hairy beasts with robotic innards bursting out of their shaggy coats. Half-shattered Cybermen, frozen in the final moments of a struggle with a melting Auton. "We must find the Brigadier and UNIT," she said.  
  
"No hope of that, I'm afraid," the Doctor answered. "In this reality I never helped the Brigadier fight of the Yeti invasion, and so the Great Intelligence won and UNIT was never formed. The Great Intelligence will have been in control until the next invasion came along and then the next, then one after another again and again. On this Earth the Brigadier probably died in that first battle with the Yeti." He shook his head in disbelief. "All this devastation, because I was content to sit back and enjoy the spectacle rather than get involved."  
  
"You can't blame yourself. It isn't you that did nothing. It was him, that alternative Dark Doctor," said Sarah.  
  
"Miss Smith is right, Doctor," said the Master. "In our reality you did not sit back. You got involved and stopped me, and many others, from bringing this down upon our heads. Don't worry, we will stop this."  
  
"Thank you for your concern," noted the Doctor.  
  
"Oh no, don't say that. I can feel a change beginning in myself. The wider changes in the universe are beginning to take hold of me," the Master gasped.  
  
"What, how can you tell?" asked Sarah.  
  
"He's just shown concern for me and Earth," the Doctor realised. "Something he would never normally do. As the alternative universe begins to take hold, the Master is beginning to take on an alternative persona - what he would have become had I become the Dark Doctor. The Master is becoming a hero."  
  
The Master could feel the changes envelop him. He was slipping into a kinder version of himself, but still he maintained his sharp mind. His usual look of cunning was now replaced by an open, more honest demeanour. "Come along, you two," he called. "We've got to find the spatial anomoliser."  
  
The Doctor and Sarah quickly followed on. "I hope we find it soon," the Doctor remarked.  
  
"What's the matter, Doctor," Sarah laughed. "Afraid he'll upstage you?"  
  
"It's more serious than that. He'll be struggling inside to reassert his true personality, while this new facet of him becomes stronger."  
  
Now she understood. "You mean he could suffer a mental breakdown?"  
  
He nodded. "Unless we find that component quickly, it's a real possibility." They hurried on, spurred on by the Master's impending condition.  
  
As they caught him up, the Master turned to them. "Doctor, where was the final battle with the Autons eventually played out?"  
  
He thought back. "A company called Auto Plastics. The company may no longer exist, but I can lead you to the site."  
  
*****  
  
As expected, the building was now a gutted, empty shell. The Doctor, Sarah and the Master made their way into the construction yard, where UNIT had held off the advancing hoard of Autons while he and Liz Shaw had confronted the Nestene Consciousness and its agent, Channing. It all seemed a long time ago. And yet . . . "Even in this alternate Earth, there has to be something," the Doctor mused.  
  
"But in a place this size, what could it be?" wondered the Master.  
  
"Up to now," Sarah thought out loud, "we've been looking for something out of place. Something that doesn't quite fit."  
  
The two Time Lords looked at her. "Go on, Sarah," the Doctor prompted.  
  
"Well, supposing this time we're after something that did fit in. Something that used to blend in, but would now be out of place among this devastation?"  
  
"I see what she means," said the Master. "A subtle variation of what's gone before."  
  
The Doctor nodded. "Hmm. I wonder . . ."  
  
"Yes, Doctor?"  
  
"Quiet, Sarah. I'm wondering."  
  
"Wondering about what?" she persisted.  
  
The Doctor looked at Sarah carefully as though he was looking at her for the first time. "How are you feeling?" he asked.  
  
"Fine, thank you," replied Sarah, slightly puzzled.  
  
"No strange twinges or aches?"  
  
"What's all this about?" asked the Master.  
  
The Doctor shushed the other Time Lord and returned his attention to Sarah. "Sarah. You know that it's the chameleon circuit that has been disguising all the missing components?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Well, one of the remarkable facilities of the chameleon circuit is that it blends the disguised object in with the environment where it lands. It can do that either as a free standing object or as part of the fabric of a larger artefact."  
  
"So?" she replied.  
  
"Sarah, answer my question. Any strange twinges or aches?"  
  
"Well no, but my back has been feeling a little stiff since we first crash landed in that field."  
  
"Oh, Sarah!" exclaimed the Doctor.  
  
He spun her around and started feeling down her back. "Oi, get off!" she shouted.  
  
The Doctor however was persistent and suddenly unzipped the back of Sarah's blouse, running his fingers up her spine. She was startled at this, but even moreso when her spine began to vibrate and hum. Then in a sudden puff of smoke, a long silver piece of technology popped out of her back straight into the Doctor's hand.  
  
"There we are. The final component," he announced.  
  
Sarah was fumbling to close the back of her blouse while she tried to grasp what had just happened.  
  
"So the spatial anomoliser hitched a ride on the back of Miss Smith," said the Master.  
  
"Yes," said the Doctor.  
  
"But why did my sensor sweep indicate that we would find it here?" the Master wondered.  
  
"Because I told it to," said the Dark Doctor as he emerged from behind a pile of rubble.  
  
To be continued . . . 


	7. Showdown

SHOWDOWN  
  
The Dark Doctor stepped forward, offering a round of applause. "Well done, Doctor. I couldn't have done better myself."  
  
"Flattery will get you nowhere," the Doctor observed. "I had a feeling you would be here."  
  
"Yes, that's the trouble with being you. We think along the same lines."  
  
The Doctor bristled. "You're not me. You're just an aspect of me - an indication of what I might become."  
  
His dark persona nodded. "But isn't it a fascinating conundrum. Two Doctors, both different and yet the same." He turned to the Master. "It must be curious for you, having two mortal enemies to choose from."  
  
The Master shook his head. "I only see that you are evil, an abomination to be eradicated."  
  
"What?" The Dark Doctor could not believe his ears. "You side with . . . with him?" indicating the Doctor.  
  
"Naturally. Your claim to the Doctor's life carries no validity."  
  
The Doctor smiled at his counterpart's confusion. "As you say, a fascinating conundrum. But one which you will lose." His voice held a grim tone. "I have seen the future, and I know that your anomalous existence cannot be allowed to continue."  
  
His dark persona laughed. "And how do you intend to stop me, Doctor? You, a third rate graduate at the Academy. You, who are so insufferably good. Look at what I have accomplished in so short a time. To shape the universe - now that's an achievement!"  
  
The Doctor slowly advanced. "It's because of your 'achievements' that you must be stopped. Even a minor glitch in time can have ramifications so terrible that they cannot be corrected. Without you, at least the universe has a fighting chance to strike out on it's own. Yes, there may be war and conflict, but it will be on their terms. And the universe will survive. It deserves to."  
  
Sarah and the Master fell in step, either side of him. "And we will stop you," Sarah promised.  
  
"We must," added the Master.  
  
The Dark Doctor stared at each of them in turn. "And how will you stop me?"  
  
The Doctor raised his right hand. "Like this." He thrust his hand into the Dark Doctor's chest, passing into him with no exterior wound. The Dark Doctor looked down, stupefied. "The merging? Oh no. No!" He began to struggle against the mental connection established by the Doctor, as bands of energy streamed through his body, seeking to hold him down. "No! You cannot!"  
  
"I have to," the Doctor replied. "This is." He was suddenly pushed to one side, as a bolt of energy passed by his head. Spinning around, he saw two lumbering Yeti approaching from behind. It was the Master, he realised, who had saved his life, pushed clear of the path of their laser weapons. Sarah was beside him, as they watched the Master draw his tissue compressor and fire on the advancing robots.  
  
As their bodies compressed, their apertures closed around the control spheres, crushing them to nothing. 'At least they had never really been alive to start with,' the Doctor mused.  
  
The danger passed, the Master dusted himself down. "Are you alright, both of you?"  
  
"Yes, thanks for . . ." the Doctor looked around. The distraction had caused the merging to be broken, and of the Dark Doctor there was now no sign. In the distance they could here the dematerialisation of his TARDIS. "He's escaped again!"  
  
"But he must be weakened," Sarah pointed out.  
  
"Weak and desperate," the Doctor realised, "which gives us an added advantage." He felt in his pockets for the spatial anomoliser, relieved that it was still there, and undamaged. "Right. We have the components. We now have to put my TARDIS back together."  
  
"But you still don't have a power source," the Master reminded him.  
  
"I think we can lay our hands on an alternative," the Doctor answered mysteriously.  
  
*****  
  
Inside the Master's TARDIS, a blue Police Box was finally taking shape. With the spatial anomoliser fitted, the internal dimensions could now be recalibrated. Inside, the familiar hexagonal control console was in place. "Not to worry, old girl," the Doctor assured his ship. "We'll soon have you up and running."  
  
Now that his TARDIS was once again travelling through the vortex, the Master had now recovered from his personality change. "It's strange," he commented. "I remember everything perfectly; leading the search for the component, saving the Doctor's life. Extraordinary."  
  
"Would you have done anything differently, if you had been yourself?" Sarah asked.  
  
His smile masked his true thoughts. "My dear Miss Smith, I can only answer that with an old Earth saying - 'that's for me to know and for you to find out.'"  
  
"Fair enough." Sarah looked up as the Doctor came out from the TARDIS. "How's it going?"  
  
"All finished," he declared. "All we need now is a power source."  
  
"You suggested a possible alternative, if I recall," the Master noted.  
  
"Yes, and I'll need your help. Can you track my counterpart's TARDIS?"  
  
"Simplicity itself," the Master replied. "The signature is the same as your own."  
  
"Good. Let me know when you get close."  
  
"Doctor, what are you up to?" Sarah asked.  
  
"All in good time, Sarah," was his only reply.  
  
*****  
  
Once the Master had located the fleeing TARDIS, he quickly made a series of short cuts through the vortex to reduce the distance. Presently he was satisfied. "Doctor?"  
  
He joined the Master at the console. "You've got him?"  
  
"Right on his tail, you might say. Now, what do you want me to do?"  
  
"I want you to materialise my TARDIS around the same space occupied by my dark counterpart," the Doctor replied.  
  
The Master was shocked. "You'd be committing suicide. Two TARDIS' cannot exist in one space."  
  
"I know that," the Doctor snapped, "but he doesn't yet have full corporeal existence, and like their respective owners, our TARDIS' are two sides of the same coin."  
  
"Oh, I get it," Sarah realised. "His TARDIS is non corporeal with a power source, and yours is fully solidified but lacking power."  
  
"Exactly, Sarah," the Doctor smiled. "The discrepancies on each side should cancel each other out."  
  
The Master was still doubtful. "It's still a risk."  
  
"Maybe," Sarah said. "But it's either this, or the other Doctor wreaks havoc on the entire universe."  
  
The Master looked at her. "Miss Smith, you have an annoying habit of stating the painfully obvious." He turned to the Doctor. "Very well. The internal and external dimensions are stable, so theoretically it is possible."  
  
"Then let's start putting theory into practice." As the Master began to pre-set the controls, the Doctor turned to Sarah. "You know how dangerous this is?"  
  
She nodded. "Two TARDIS' in one point of space? It won't be easy."  
  
"Which is why I can't risk your life," he told her. "I have to do this alone."  
  
Sarah gulped. "And leave me here with the Master?"  
  
The Doctor gave her an encouraging smile. "Well, he needs looking after."  
  
The Master looked up from his task. "If you're ready, Doctor? We have dematerialisation in ten seconds."  
  
"I'm ready," the Doctor nodded. "Look after Sarah."  
  
"I shall keep her safe, I promise you." The Doctor entered his TARDIS and braced himself at the console. This would not be an easy journey.  
  
The Master threw a switch and the Doctor's TARDIS vanished from the console room. "Will he be alright?" Sarah asked.  
  
"We can only hope, Miss Smith," the Master replied. "Right now, the Doctor is on his own."  
  
*****  
  
The Doctor saw the walls of his console room suddenly become a blur as the two versions of the TARDIS tried to co-exist in the same part of the vortex. Like a strange form of double vision, the two console rooms seemed to swim around each other. Then the Doctor fixed his gaze on the other figure in the console room. The Dark Doctor stood holding firmly on to the console, his eyes fixed on his counterpart, his black clothes billowing around as the temporal wind tore through him.  
  
"So this is how it ends," said the Dark Doctor.  
  
The Doctor moved closer to his other self until they were face to face, holding on to each other and the console for support against the winds. "Yes. Neither of us have won, but we shall be as one. Your plans will be stopped and the universe will be restored."  
  
"But the stains of my manipulations will remain a part of you forever, growing more powerful with every incarnation," the Dark Doctor insisted. "And one day, perhaps in your sixth, seventh or even thirteenth life I will assert myself even more strongly and you will not recognise yourself anymore."  
  
The Doctor would not be swayed. "Never! I may change, but my spirit will remain true."  
  
"Perhaps. We shall see. If that is the case then possibly one day I will finally break free again." A thought occurred. "I'd have to chose a new name, though. 'Doctor' is far too 'goody two shoes' a name for me."  
  
"Indeed," the Doctor agreed. "Why not something with a legal ring to it? The Solicitor perhaps?"  
  
Then suddenly the console room was still and the Doctor was alone.  
  
He could feel a change in himself. He could feel the darkness wrapped around his hearts in a way it never had before. He knew he was going to change and he did not want Sarah to see him change - it would spoil things. In that moment he decided that at the next opportunity he would find an excuse to take her home. That would spare her the pain.  
  
*****  
  
They were back where they had started. Back on that same field in the English countryside. The previously affected timelines had now been set back on their correct path.  
  
"Well, Doctor," the Master noted, "we certainly live in exciting times."  
  
"I won't disagree with you there." Their words were heartfelt. It had been a long time since they had worked together, and now both felt strangely at a loss for words. "So, what happens now?"  
  
The Master smiled. "I think it best if we make our farewells, don't you?"  
  
"If you're sure?"  
  
The Master hesitated briefly. "After our recent escapades, I might have been tempted, but I chose my path a long time ago. I could not turn back now."  
  
The Doctor nodded. "I understand. So, we part as allies . . ."  
  
". . . and the next time our paths cross, we shall be on opposing sides once more." He turned to Sarah. "Miss Smith, it has been a pleasure." He took her hand and kissed it.  
  
Sarah was so surprised by his actions that she actually blushed. "Take care." She couldn't think of what else to say.  
  
The Master accepted her wishes with good grace, and turned to the Doctor. Farewell, Doctor. Until we meet again." The Doctor raised his hand in a form of salute, as the sound of dematerialisation signalled the Master's departure. Within seconds, he was gone.  
  
The Doctor stared at the empty space. "You know, Sarah, things could have been so different between us."  
  
She was curious about something. "Doctor?"  
  
"Hmm?"  
  
"How did things get so bad between you and the Master?"  
  
"Well, he was always so competitive, even at the Academy. We both wanted the same things, but he chose a different way to achieve them, becoming more ruthless as time went on."  
  
Sarah nodded. "Mmm. He seemed quite nice, actually."  
  
"Nice?" he exploded. "Nice? I'll have you know that the Master is the most despicable, most vile, most . . ."  
  
"Obnoxious?"  
  
"Yes! No! I mean . . ." then he caught the look Sarah gave him. "Well, he's alright I suppose - on a good day." They both burst out laughing. The Web of Time had been saved, and all was right with the world.  
  
"So what now?" Sarah wondered.  
  
"Well," the Doctor suggested, "we're back on Earth, in your own time. You could go home, if you really want to."  
  
"Aw, come on, Doctor," she protested. "There's a whole universe to see out there."  
  
The Doctor hesitated. Knowing what his future held, he was reluctant to endanger Sarah's life needlessly. Of all his travelling companions, she was the one who knew him best, and he did not want to jeopardise their friendship. But then he saw the glint in her eye, and he knew he could not refuse her. "Alright," he conceded. "Just one last time."  
  
Sarah grinned. "That's good enough for me, Doctor." 


	8. Epilogue

EPILOGUE  
  
The Doctor was alone in the TARDIS. He watched from the scanner as Sarah walked from the Police Box exterior, taking in her surroundings. Then he threw the switch that would take him away from her, into the vortex, and back home to Gallifrey.  
  
He had lied to her. He had to, to protect her. For there was no rule excluding humans from his world, but the telepathic summons to return home had been the perfect opportunity to return Sarah to her own home, Earth - Hillview Road, East Croydon, to be precise.  
  
She would have travelled with him forever. But until his own dark future was resolved, he could no longer take the risk. 


End file.
